Teresa Potts
ABOUT ME:
I am a tester, coach, scrum master, and leader from Michigan, USA. My background started in music, but an organization took a chance on my natural user testing curiosity and ability, and now I've been in tech for over 18 years. I earned a Bachelor of Music, an Associate's in Computer Programming, and an MBA in Engineering Management.
Despite having a tester, skeptical mindset toward anything new I come into contact with, I take my sense of humor with me and wear my heart on my sleeve. I was a first-time CAST speaker in 2026 and also designed the inaugural CAST Challenge Coin. I really enjoy coming up with new ideas and thinking outside the box.
Outside of testing, I play viola in a local symphony, am a member of the Motor Maids, love kpop music, reality TV, old-school fighting games, having a good laugh, and my little dog, Teddy.
WHY QUALITY? In 2 paragraphs give us an overview of your philosophy on Quality and how you approach testing in support of achieving quality outcomes… Please provide (non-confidential) real world examples:
Quality is essential to daily life in more ways than people realize. It rarely comes to the forefront until a major failure. Low-quality products and items can disappoint us and ultimately harm or even kill us. It is important to protect the user from disappointment and danger. It takes future thinking and perspective to know what or how someone may use a product.
Testing isn't about who is right; it's about doing the right thing. Just the other day, I was creating a new account on a website, and I struggled to understand an error message regarding the password I intended to use. I ended up having to Google it because it was not in a human-readable format. Simple password requirements being listed would have solved my issue. This ended up taking way more time than I intended. People remember, report, and tell their friends about bad experiences way more than good experiences. This ultimately makes people walk away, and you never even knew there was an issue as an organization.
This board role will require 10 - 20 hours per month of often self driven activities and the ideal candidate is someone who is willing to own an initiative and drive it through to completion... Is this something you are willing to commit to, and in your most honest moment, what will keep you motivated when the work gets hard and progress feels slow?
I will try my best. I am actually a member of two boards already. I am the historian for the Mason Symphony that I play in locally. I am also a general board member for MITN, the Michigan Technology Network. It is never my goal to drop the ball; that is for sure. But these boards also do not have anyone else who looks like me on them, so I am happy to be present and maybe provide a different angle on ideas.
It's 2030. AST just won 'Global Nonprofit of the Year' for transforming testing careers worldwide. What three bold moves did we make between 2025-2030 that nobody saw coming?
Follow-up: Which of these moves would you personally champion, and how would you convince skeptics on the board?
We started to provide study groups for the various tester certifications out there, so maybe it encourages someone to finally take the plunge and do it.
More people sharing their stories of preventing showstopping bugs before they went out. This could be a book that has tons of contributors, videos, a podcast, etc. Testers don't get credit for their finds on a large scale.
Also, allowing more people to get published officially would be really cool too. There are writers and editors out there making books on testing-related topics, but it would be cool to get people contributing that usually do not to blogs, websites, news articles, etc. Some people may find they are good at it.
What's one thing AST is doing right now that we should stop doing immediately, even if it's popular? And what's one bold experiment we should try, even if it might fail spectacularly?
The thing I would stop immediately is having two websites/communities. It's a bit confusing for new people to see https://associationforsoftwaretesting.org/ and then the Mighty site being where the actual community is. Heck, Gwen knows I was even confused.
An experiment to try would be to sell merch on the website. Items that say AST on them could be really cool, but also joke and smart shirts can catch people's eye and make them see that testing is a real career. I see a lot of developers wearing shirts and hoodies so everyone can tell what they do for a living just by what they are wearing.
What is your history with AST? Describe why you are interested in serving on the AST Board and what personal / professional strengths make you an ideal board member for the organization?
Follow Up: Are there any particular initiatives or areas you are especially interested in driving / leading?
My history with AST isn't very long. I attended an AST conference remotely when a friend got us access while we were unemployed. I enjoyed the conference, but there were sessions I wanted to see that I couldn't as a remote attendee. Then I got invited to speak this year. When initially asked, it was while I was still unemployed, and I couldn't believe someone wanted to hear my ideas. I am used to being the only woman and the only Black woman in the room at a lot of the places I have worked while testing. I want more onlys to be heard, so hopefully things change, and they will no longer feel or be alone.
When you step down from this board, what do you want your Wikipedia entry to say about your contribution to AST and the testing profession? What impact are you personally committed to creating?
I want it to say Teresa Potts kept it real. She was able to get new voices heard and acknowledged in the testing space. More people found the profession and got training to be really good at it.
You're on a board committee with members from Japan, Brazil, Nigeria, Germany, and the US. The group is stuck on a decision because cultural communication styles are clashing and creating misunderstandings. What is your strategy for facilitating breakthrough and building genuine consensus?
Follow-up: Provide an example of how you've successfully worked across significant cultural or professional differences.
I usually try to find common ground amongst all the people. We all have something in common, even if it is personal. And usually, making people laugh is a good unifier. It can really take the pressure off a tense situation.